A coalition pushing lawmakers to clear up confusion over Colorado’s new ethics law filed a November ballot proposal Thursday to clarify Amendment 41 and impose a tax on lobbyists.
The ballot initiative would define the scope of the ethics-in-government measure, ending confusion over scholarships to the children of government workers and personal gifts to rank-and-file employees.
Amendment 41 was intended to ban gifts from lobbyists to elected officials.
The ballot proposal calls for a $50 annual tax on lobbyists to pay for an ethics commission that would hear Amendment 41 violations. Including a tax on lobbyists is a way to get the issue on the ballot in an odd- numbered year, when only tax- related measures are allowed.
The ballot initiative is a backup plan in case the legislature does not come through with an Amendment 41 fix this session.
The coalition said it was concerned that parts of a compromise to clarify Amendment 41 announced by House and Senate leaders a month ago were “at risk of being abandoned.”
“We are concerned that some members of the legislative leadership did not come to that agreement in good faith and therefore any progress has stalled,” said Mark Grueskin, an attorney for the coalition. “We are going to put this initiative on the ballot and let voters tell the legislature they meant what they said back in November.”
House Minority Leader Mike May has accused the Senate of holding up the deal.
Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald, however, said the chamber just had other matters to deal with.
“It’s getting done, and it will be done by the time we get out of here,” she said.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
